This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/701,394, filed Aug. 22, 1996. The present invention relates generally to the manufacture of food products. In one preferred form, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for cutting individual confectionery products from a slab or strip of product material into a product with a particular silhouette. In another form, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for both cutting and forming individual confectionery products from strips or ropes. Still further, the process can be used for simply forming products from pre-cut segments or other blanks of confectionery material, including imparting a relatively precise texture, finish or detail to such products. The products may, but need not, be subsequently enrobed in chocolate or another coating. In still other embodiments, the confectionery material may comprise grains of a puffed cereal. In some instances, a matrix of plasticizable material holds the grains together and the confectionery material may also include, in addition to the puffed cereal, candied fruit bits, dry fruits, nuts, or the like. In some cases, the puffed cereal may be held together by surface contact between adjacent grains instead of being held by the matrix.
The methods and apparatus are adapted to create individual confections which have the same taste, consistency and eating characteristics as those of the supply stock, i.e., they are "true analogs" of the supply stock. These methods and apparatus advantageously involve the utilization of ultrasonic energy.
The simplest form of apparatus involves cutting shapes from a slab or suitably wide strip of material on a flat surface to create products having a given silhouette but opposed flat sides. More complex forms of the apparatus use one or more forming tools, each of which includes a cavity having interior surfaces which will impart a desired shape and surface detail or texture to the finished product. Where advantage is taken of a number of features of the invention, a continuous extruded strip or "rope" of confectionery material is continuously advanced and then intermittently engaged by a cutting and forming tool whose cutting edges and interior surfaces vibrate ultrasonically at a desired amplitude. As used herein, "tool" simply means the portion of an ultrasonically energized apparatus that cuts or imprints a shape to the product.
This enables a finished product of a desired shape and surface texture to be accurately formed by the tool and then released from the tool without having any residue from the product adhere to the interior of the tool, and without affecting the sensory characteristics of the product. The apparatus and methods can be used to create products which are the true analogs of other products made from the same ingredients but shaped or sized differently.
Where the cutting and forming tools are formed and sized appropriately, and moved in a desired sequence, and where the cross-section of the confectionery stock is controlled properly, the process can achieve so-called "flashless molding" of product and also virtually or completely eliminate scrap or the like by forming the entire strip into individual products, without leaving a web or other residue from which the individual pieces were formed. In the case of puffed cereal products, this may be referred to as "flashless formation" in that little or no scrap is created by the forming operations. Forming of puffed cereals is done by rearranging the shape or contours of the product, but without compressing the confectionery stock. This avoids any change in eating characteristics which might result from compressing or collapsing the cereal grains.
Many commercially produced confectionery products, such as, for example, candy bars, are formed by providing a slab which is then slit into multiple strips or what are sometimes termed "ropes." These strips or ropes are cut into individual lengths and enrobed with a continuous coating, such as, for example, chocolate. Such cutting steps can be carried out at high speed but these steps do not customarily involve forming the product into any shape except that of simple geometric figures, usually a parallel piped or rectangular bar.
Although it is known to be possible to form unusual shapes and to impart a great variety of surface finishes or textures to candy products, this is not able to be done with most candy products on a rapid, continuous basis. This is because such shapes are normally created by molding, which involves melting the candy product and allowing it to re-solidify.
In the candy business, a great deal of research and effort has been undertaken in an attempt to create products which have taste, consistency and eating characteristics of a particularly desired kind. Thus, candy bar centers are commonly made as layered products and include a variety of materials each having its own characteristic taste. These ingredients include nuts of various kinds, fruit inclusions, coconut, peanut butter, nougat, caramel, most or all of which are layered and then enrobed in dark or light chocolate, or the like. It has been found through research that the mere presence of the same or similar ingredients in two different products is not enough to ensure that they will have the same taste, consistency and eating characteristics.
Thus, if the ingredients in one product are arranged in distinct layers, and in other products the same ingredients are simply intermixed, consumers will very often strongly prefer one product and not the other, in spite of the virtual identity of their ingredients on an overall basis. Many manufacturers have been unable to offer truly analogous products in shapes which differ significantly from those in which the products are customarily made. Accordingly, there has been a desire in the industry to be able to provide different versions or true analogs of particular, commercially popular candy bars in shapes different from their usual prior shapes. By "true analogs" as used herein is meant a product which does in fact have the same formulation, taste, consistency and eating characteristics as an original or reference product.
Assuming that a product itself could be made into two or more analog forms, each having significantly different shapes, another question is whether the equipment used to make such analog products could be readily incorporated into existing production lines.
Consequently, the operational flexibility that could be achieved by simply inserting the apparatus necessary to make an analog product into a production line that need not otherwise be modified would be a significant advantage in the industry.
While it is known that three dimensional products or those with complex detail or surface texture can be formed from continuous slabs of material as described above without encountering the above-referenced difficulties to an extent considered significant, these known manufacturing methods have several of their own drawbacks. Such methods often termed "flex molding," for example, are expensive and complex.
Flex molding is so-named because the molds which actually form the product are made from a flexible material, such as rubber. Consequently, it is possible to impart a somewhat complex decorative or like shape to the product and to remove a product, even one including undercuts or complex surface shapes from the mold as long as the mold sidewalls are flexible enough to be removed from the product without damaging it. However, there are a number of drawbacks to this method. First, it involves fluent, plasticized, or even liquid state products, and such liquid state products cannot by their nature be true analog products. The time required to allow products to solidify sufficiently to allow their removal is a process requirement that militates strongly against high production rates.
The size and complexity of flex molding equipment makes it expensive, causes it to occupy a great deal of space and makes it difficult to integrate into existing process equipment. Maintenance in some cases is difficult and expensive.
At least one other prior art method has presented certain disadvantages and drawbacks. Among these are problems of adhesion between the tool cavity interior or other forming surface that can become very significant. Even the most minor amount of adhesion will prevent complete product release, and in this case, deposits can progressively build up until an unacceptable level of residual material is present. Then, the process must be stopped to clean the forming surfaces. Anything hampering the continuity of such a process is clearly a serious drawback.
Problems continue to arise in the confectionery industry when it is necessary to cut individual pieces from continuous slabs, strips or extrudable ropes of products. Another aspect of the difficulty in cutting pieces relates to commercially produced frozen confections such as ice cream or frozen yogurt. The present invention allows effortless cutting of slabs, strips or extrudable ropes without producing distortion or adhesions, even where there are inclusions such as nuts, bits of fruit and the like.
The puffed cereal material may be presented in several ways. Where the cereal grains are received and held within a plasticizable matrix, the strip or slab of such product may be reformed at any time after the strip or slab itself is formed, inasmuch as the grains can be moved about when the matrix is plasticized. The operations include cutting individual pieces from a larger mass such as the strip or slab and forming them into characteristic shapes or products with visible surface texture. In those circumstances wherein there is no plasticizable matrix, it is customary to form an extruded rope of grains bound together at their outer surfaces without an adhesive matrix. This extruded rope is still pliable for a very short time immediately after merging from the extruder. It is only at this point that the rope may be formed into a confection of a shape determined by the tool contours without altering the texture or volume of the grains and without altering the eating characteristics of the final product.
In view of the foregoing and other disadvantages and the failure generally of the prior art to provide optimum methods and apparatus for forming individual food products from continuous strips or slabs, it is an object of the present invention to provide improved methods and apparatus for this purpose.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus and method for simultaneously cutting and forming confectionery products such as, for example, candy bars.
One other object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which will rapidly and readily cut a product having a given silhouette from a continuous web of material.
A further object of the present invention is to provide improved methods and apparatus for cutting and forming frozen confectionery products, with or without inclusions.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide methods and apparatus for ultrasonically cutting and forming three dimensionally shaped and/or surface textured or embossed confectionery products, both "frozen" or "ambient" ("non-frozen").
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for ultrasonically energizing one or more "acoustic tools" (such as an ultrasonic horn) used to cut and form intricately shaped, surface textured confectionery products from a continuous slab, rope or strip.
A further object of the invention is to use an acoustic tool for forming confectionery products, including puffed cereal products, from pre-cut, metered, or dosed portions of confectionery stock.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for minimizing distortion of layered feedstock materials during the forming process.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for cutting and forming intricately shaped and/or textured confectionery products in a single step, such methods and apparatus employing ultrasonic energy and specially designed forming tools.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for cutting individual confectionery products from a strip or extruded rope of confectionery stock and simultaneously forming individual products by contacting the supply of material with a cutting and forming tool having ultrasonically vibrating surfaces.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for forming confectionery products which readily fill a cavity of a complex shape to provide a product that is substantially free of voids.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus whereby confectionery products of a given height, length and width can be produced from a continuous strip of confectionery stock having a different height and width, all without disturbing the taste, consistency and eating characteristics of the feedstock.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved cutting and product forming system for making selectively shaped confectionery products, which system can easily be integrated into or installed on existing production lines with a minimum of capital expenditure and which can enable such production lines to achieve desirably high production rates, especially in relation to flex molding techniques and to maintain or improve quality.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for substantially reducing the forces required to form novel confectionery shapes, thereby increasing the life of tools and other process equipment, and enabling products to be made at higher rates without increased cost.
A still further object is to provide a process that is capable of concurrently producing both regular or conventional shapes as well as novelty shapes from the same feedstock, preferably on side-by-side lines using basically the same equipment.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a confectionery forming method and apparatus wherein ultrasonic energy is used to achieve movement of the cavity defining surfaces to ensure that the product is fully and completely released from the mold thereby eliminating build-up of product residue on the working faces of the forming tools.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method of operating an ultrasonically energized tool so as to achieve the required energy transfer without waste of energy or degrading or damaging to the product or the tooling.
Another object of the invention is to provide methods for operating ultrasonically energized equipment which include selectively varying the amplitude of vibration undergone by certain of the product contact surfaces during the cutting and forming cycles so as to utilize ultrasonic energy in the most effective way.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a method of imparting ultrasonic energy to an ultrasonically vibrated mold in a definite sequence so as to achieving desired or necessary plasticity and secure complete mold release without unduly raising the surface and/or interior temperature of the product.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide methods for utilizing pairs of opposed, cooperating, ultrasonically energized forming tools in a synchronized relation to form products of complex shapes, including full three-dimensional shapes, in a continuous process.
Another object of the invention is to enable the same process equipment to be used in forming finished products such as fudge or chocolate products, as is used in producing toffee or other shaped centers for a subsequently applied final coating such as chocolate.
A further object of the invention is to provide a molding tool which will cut profile or silhouette shapes from a slab of continuous confectionery feedstock, creating a product with a flat top and bottom and a contoured outline or silhouette formed by a precise, ultrasonic vibration-assisted cutting action.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method of substantially "flashless" molding of confectionery products from a continuous strip, rapidly forming a succession of individual products and utilizing the entire volume of the strip so that no residual web or non-product residue is created.
Another object of the invention is to utilize a multiple cavity tool to produce plural flashless, silhouette products from a slab to leave a web of minimum volume that can be recycled.
Yet another object of the invention is to use an array of single or multiple cavity tools for producing silhouette products or cut and molded products from a slab of confectionery material.
A further object of the invention is to provide certain apparatus and methods that will cut and/or form confectionery stock such as candy bar forming stock, and in modified or un-modified form, that will function equally well in cutting and/or forming puffed cereal slabs, strips or ropes of various kinds.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method of incorporating the intermittent motion of a pair of opposed tool sets into a process that includes supplying feedstock in continuous or rope form in order to make individual products from such continuous rope without creating waste, leftovers, and without unduly deforming the feedstock.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages are achieved in practice by providing a method which includes using one or more ultrasonically energized forming tools to create individual confectionery products, including puffed cereal products, from a continuous slab of product by cutting and forming such individual uses through the use of a desired motion sequence, and the use of the ultrasonic energy to plasticize the product and impart a desired shape and surface texture thereto at high speed while securing complete release of the product from the forming tool.
The objects are also achieved by providing control of the amplitude of the ultrasonic energy supplied to the tools during product forming operations and by coordinating the motion sequence of some of the process equipment with other process equipment to achieve substantially flashless molding. In addition, the invention provide methods and apparatus involving the use of a reciprocating tool moving in cooperation with an indexable companion tool or anvil as a part of a continuous forming process.
The manner in which the foregoing and other objects and advantages are achieved in practice will become more clearly apparent when reference is made to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention set forth by way of example and shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein like references numbers indicate corresponding parts throughout.